Caladiums [Caladium hortulanum Birdsey, Araceae Juss.] are ornamental aroids valued for their bright colorful leaves. They are propagated through tubers and tuber divisions. Many existing commercial Caladium cultivars cannot produce tubers stably or adequately for profitable commercial production. In other cases, sunburn tolerance or pot performance may not be satisfactory for commercial acceptance.
‘UF-85-5’ originated from a planned cross between ‘UF-607’ (female parent) and ‘Florida Fantasy’ (male parent) that was made in 2000. ‘UF-607’ was chosen from progeny of ‘Aaron’ and a breeding line, UF-FCT, that resulted from a cross between ‘Fire Chief’ and ‘Torchy’. ‘UF-607’ was released as ‘Summer Rose’ in 2005 (Deng and Harbaugh, HortScience, 41:468-470, 2006, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 20,446). ‘Florida Fantasy’ (unpatented) was a progeny of a cross between ‘Candidum Junior’ and ‘Red Frill’ (Wilfret, Univ. Fla., Inst. Food Agric. Sci., Circular, S-381, Gainesville, Fla., 1991). The ancestry of ‘Aaron’, ‘Candidum Junior’, ‘Fire Chief’, ‘Red Frill’, and ‘Torchy’ is unknown. ‘UF-85-5’ was selected in 2001. Asexual propagation by tubers and tuber division, and evaluations in field and pot studies in Bradenton, Fla. between 2002 and 2005 and in Wimauma, Fla. since 2005 have shown that the unique features of ‘UF-85-5’ are stable and ‘UF-85-5’ reproduces true to type in successive generations of asexual propagation.
Plant Breeder's Rights for this cultivar have not been applied for. ‘UF-85-5’ has not been made publicly available more than one year prior to the filing of this application.